


Hermione's Questions

by the_laibararian



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Amateur Podfic, Crack, F/F, Fluff, Hermione Goes To America, Hermione is Hot, Humor, Kinda, Podcast: Fanatical Fics and Where to Find Them, Podfic, Podfic Available, Podfic Length: 10-20 Minutes, Romance, amateur
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:15:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23772163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_laibararian/pseuds/the_laibararian
Summary: After returning from her exchange trip to the American Wizarding School, Hermione is greeted by strange behaviour from everyone at Hogwarts. They just keep staring at her and acting weird, even Ron and Harry! Determined to find out what happened while she was gone, she turns to the only student at Hogwarts who still treats her the same as before: Luna Lovegood.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Luna Lovegood
Comments: 1
Kudos: 79





	Hermione's Questions

**Author's Note:**

> Read out loud (not professionally) by Sequoia, one of the hosts of the amazing podcast Fanatical Fics and Where to Find Them! Not actually on the podcast but on a Story-Time session (the hosts reading wholesome or funny fics written by fans of the podcast). If you want to listen to it, here's the link: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/604780866

Ever since Hermione had come back from her exchange trip to the American Wizarding School, people were acting strange around her. They would stare at her in the halls, start conversations with her in the library, follow her to her classes even! At first, Hermione just thought they were interested in what she’d learned about American Wizarding Society, but she could tell people weren’t paying attention during the 5 hour presentation she’d prepared about it. No, it was something different, and she had no idea what.

As Hermione was pondering over what the change could possibly be, Parvati and Lavender walked into their shared dorm. They, too, had been acting strange around her. To be fair, Hermione had never got on with them that well, and her trip had certainly not strengthened their relationship. Still, Lavender’s cold stare and Parvati’s inability to meet her eyes seemed unwarranted. Hermione had often noticed Parvati just watching her while she did her homework and Lavender had (not very subtly) taken both herself and Parvati as far away from Hermione as often as she could. Not wanting to deal with the strange ways of the roommates she never understood, Hermione went down to the Common Room.

This ended up being a mistake, because the common room was completely packed. It felt as though all eyes followed Hermione as she walked down the stairs and took a seat next to Ron and Harry by the fire. They were playing a game of wizarding chess, but they were as distracted by Hermione as everyone else seemed to be. The chess pieces kept having to prompt them to actually do their turns, and had some very creative insults for when they just did the first thing they could think of which were, more often than not, terrible moves.

Hermione was completely perplexed by what was happening. She could deal with the weirdness from everyone else, but she really wanted some normalcy from her friends and she wasn’t getting any at all! Neither Ron or Harry had made joking comments to her about anything, said no when she suggested studying, or had acted like themselves at all in any way! She had missed them during her trip, though she’d never outright admit it, and she didn’t think she’d have to keep missing them when they were right in front of her.

Hermione shot up from her seat and practically sent a shockwave through the room, judging by everyone’s reactions. She needed to get to the bottom of whatever was going on, and she couldn’t do it here, surrounded by the very people whose behaviour had changed. No, she was going to have to go to the one student at Hogwarts who had treated her the exact same way she always did: Luna Lovegood.

Unlike Harry and Ron who didn’t care to learn anything unless it was force-fed to them by a teacher, Hermione actually knew where all the house common rooms were. She rushed to Ravenclaw tower and was face-to-face with the door before she was hit by a dilemma. It was against the rules for her to go into the Ravenclaw Common Room.

_I mean, no one ever explicitly stated it did they? I can’t reasonably be expected to follow rules if no one bothered stating them. That’s just not right. And I need to get answers. Besides, it’s not like the Ravenclaw Common Room is actually password protected._

Still, Hermione hesitated. Luna might not even be in the common room. As her hand slowly reached to the eagle knocker, the door unexpectedly opened. Mildly surprised, Hermione was faced with a meek third year Ravenclaw who blushed when she caught Hermione’s eye.

“Some muggleborns figured out how to install security cameras. Too many non-Ravenclaws were getting in.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I can go, but–”

“NO! That’s not what I meant,” the girl said. She had grabbed onto Hermione’s sleeve in an effort to get her to stay, and she now let go, blushing furiously. With an embarrassed smile, she continued. “You’re welcome here anytime; practically an honourary Ravenclaw aren’t you. I just didn’t want you to have to answer the riddle. Come inside.”

Looking at the girl warily, Hermione stopped inside. She knew what the Common Room would look like from _Hogwarts: A History_ , but she still looked around, drinking in the coziness of the furniture and the colours, much less harsh than the reds and golds of Gryffindor. With a side look at the massive bookshelf (she would have to ask later if she was allowed to peruse), she turned back to the girl who let her in.

“I’m looking for Luna Lovegood. Do you know if she’s here?”

“Yes Loo- I mean Luna should be up in her dorm I think. It’s up that staircase over there. Her name should be on the door, so feel free to go up.”

“Thank you,” Hermione replied, quickly heading the direction the girl had gestured towards. Now that her first look of the room was over, she was becoming increasingly aware of having the attention of everyone in the room. She just hoped that Luna could explain the madness of whatever was happening so that she didn’t have to feel awkward at everything she did. Rushing up the stairs, Hermione found the room with Luna’s name on it and knocked.

“Come in,” came the familiar voice of Hermione’s… friend? Acquaintance? She wasn’t quite sure.

Opening the door, Hermione saw Luna sitting on a four-poster bed reading a copy of _Invisible Creatures and How to Sense Them_. Luckily, none of her other roommates were there, so Hermione didn’t have to deal with the attention. They could just stay here and talk. Walking forward, Hermione coughed and struggled to find words. She felt sheepish now that she was actually standing in front of Luna and thought that her purpose was kinda absurd and silly. Then again, who could handle absurd and silly better than Luna?

“Um, I know this sounds weird but I need your help with something,” Hermione breathed out, before she lost her nerve.

“I figured that much, considering you’ve never come into my dormitory before,” Luna replied in an airy voice while putting her book down. “Come, sit.”

Sitting down across from Luna, Hermione was still at a loss for words on how to explain her situation, but she had gotten this far.

“So you know the exchange trip I went on to America?”

“Yes. I thought your presentation was lovely, though I would have talked more about the prevalence of Fanged Tilkypums in North America. They can be very tricky to handle.”

“What? Never mind, we can talk about that later. Anyway, I got back from my trip, and now everyone is acting so weird. I swear, I can’t do anything without someone watching every second of it. I _need_ to know what happened while I was gone.”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Luna replied, somehow both confused and mildly amused at Hermione’s obliviousness.

“Um, no? Why else would I ask you?” Irritated, Hermione wondered why she bothered coming to Luna at all, when her answers were always so vague.

With a giggle, Luna got up from her bed and grabbed Hermione’s arm. She parked them both in front of a full length mirror, and sensing a protest from Hermione, Luna told her to hush and just look. Resigning herself to Luna’s strangeness, Hermione stared at the mirror, but she couldn’t notice anything exceptional that Luna would have to drag her to a mirror and show her. It was just normal Hermione looking back at her.

Hermione was wearing black platform sandals, paired with her bright red bell-bottoms that had a bow in front where a belt was supposed to be. Above, she was wearing a multi-coloured striped and cropped t-shirt, with a black tube top layered on top of it, showing off part of her midriff. She had gotten a belly button piercing while in America, and she had a star shaped diamond put in. On her wrists, she had multiple scrunchies, matching the colours of her t-shirt, and her nails were the same but shiny. In her hair was another scrunchie, a black one with a patterned black and red ribbon attached. Her bushy hair had been tamed by American beauty products, and she had half her hair up in a ponytail, with the other half loose. It had taken her some convincing from her American friends, but she had re-gotten her front bangs from her pre-teen years, and they were looking slick. Her eyebrows had been tweezed beyond recognition, giving her the perfect thin arch look that was in style. She had reddish-brown eyeshadow with winged eyeliner, combining for a total cat eyes look. The rest of her makeup was mostly natural looking, barring her bright red lipstick. For jewellery, she had on a thick, plain black choker as well yin yang earrings with a matching ring on the hand without the scrunchies. Like she said, she looked totally normal.

“Um, I don’t kno–” Hermione began.

“Shhh… Like I said, just keep looking.”

Exasperated, Hermione rolled her eyes, but she obliged Luna. Done looking herself over, Hermione shifted her eyes to Luna, who seemed to be purposely facing her eyes away from the mirror to give Hermione privacy. Luna’s outfit was completely different from Hermione’s. Luna was wearing Doc Martin’s with a Hello Kitty patch on the side. A flannel shirt was tied around her waist over top of a simple denim skirt that highlighted Luna’s long legs. She was wearing a black t-shirt for some wizarding band that Hermione had never heard of, the front of which was tied in a knot. Luna didn’t have a belly button piercing, but if she did, Hermione thought that one of her homemade pieces of jewellery she loved would look fabulous against her skin there. Luna had more than one choker around her neck, each with a different style and colour. Hermione liked the one with little roses on it the best, and wondered at Luna’s talents that she’d ignored previously. The rest of her jewellery was also handmade, with some hoop peace signs as earrings, a (presumably) magical mood ring, and colourful beaded bracelets. Luna’s makeup was more natural looking than Hermione’s but she thought that the thin eyeliner all around her eyes made the blue of her irises pop, and the nude lipstick was such a wonderful shade, Hermione could barely take her eyes away. When she did, she looked at Luna’s hair last. Her head was adorned with many butterfly clips that contrasted nicely with her natural blonde hair. Hermione has never really taken the time to look over Luna’s appearance, but overall, she looked _very_ good in Hermione’s eyes, and she wondered if Luna was actually trying to help Hermione or if she was just fishing for compliments.

“Listen, Luna, I don’t know what exactly you want me to see in this mirror, but I’m not seeing it. Can you just be straightforward and _tell_ me what’s changed, since it’s so glaringly obvious to you.”

With a giggle, a sigh, and a wistful look at Hermione, Luna answered, “It’s you.”

That was not the answer Hermione expected, and in her mind, it was therefore not the answer at all. Luna clearly saw that on Hermione’s features, because she continued.

“It’s you Hermione. I mean it. You went to America, and… you came back hot. Everyone is just so attracted to you. That’s why they keep staring at you and treating you weird. People tend to do that when they find themself suddenly attracted to someone.”

Hermione was floored. She couldn’t believe it. She was hot??? Buck-teethed, bushy-haired Hermione was hot? She knew that she’d gotten rid of those traits of herself, and true she put in more effort in her appearance now than before she went to America, but she just did not associate herself with the word hot! Pretty maybe, but hot?? With a shocked look, Hermione sat on Luna’s bed to try and process what she had just learned. Luna passed her a glass of water, and Hermione’s brain decided to finally kick in and actually ask questions.

“Are you sure?”

“Positive. You look absolutely fresh in that outfit, and I’m surprised someone as smart and beautiful as you are couldn’t spot that in the mirror.”

“Well you look better than I do, and no one is being weird to you now are they?” Hermione said, trying to deflect the attention.

“Well of course not. It’s my job to be weird to everyone else, as most people think,” Luna said in a joking manner with a smile.

This statement instinctively brought a frown to Hermione’s face, and she attributed it to the thought that popped up a millisecond afterwards.

“You’re not acting weird with me. I specifically came here because you were the only person acting normal. Is me becoming hot just not worth a reaction to you?” Hermione joked back, becoming more used to the topic.

Luna, who is normally blasé about everything, suddenly blushed. Her curiosity piqued, Hermione pressed onwards.

“What is it, Luna?” 

At that, Luna’s blush deepened, and Hermione blushed too, realizing she’d never once called Luna her name to her face in all the time they’d known each other.

Looking away from Hermione’s face, as if to hide embarrassment, Luna replied to her question. “I did have a reaction, though I suppose it was less sudden than everyone else's. The truth is, Hermione, that… I’ve found you attractive for a long time. Since the year before we met, even. I’ve just gotten used to hiding my crush on you. I know you wouldn’t like me back.” With those words, Luna leapt up from the bed and ran out the room, clearly regretting having revealed her secret.

Hermione didn’t think that she could have gotten a bigger shock than the revelation of her being hot today, but this news had taken the cake. She didn’t know what to do or what to think. Luna had a crush on her. She had had it for a long time, long before anyone else had found her attractive, even Krum. Which means that Luna was the first person to ever _like_ like Hermione, and she had done that to buck-toothed, bushy-haired Hermione no less.

Hermione was conflicted. She knew that she liked both girls and boys, after all the “experiments” the wizards and witches in America were fond of, but she had never viewed Luna in that light before. She had barely even seen Luna as a friend, which was probably why the poor girl thought Hermione wouldn’t like her back. Still, Hermione knew that she had to find Luna, who was probably anxious and sad right now. Rushing out the door, Hermione hoped that she could find Luna, and that they could talk about what had happened.

Hermione searched all throughout the castle, ignoring the attention that everyone was paying her now that she knew what it was for. She briskly shut down anyone who came up to her to offer help. They could all see that she was agitated and frantic, but this was a personal matter between Hermione and Luna, and she wasn’t going to let anyone interfere. She even punched Draco who had come up to brag about how hot _he_ was.

_Aw shit, did I make him hotter? Broken noses are so in right now._

Finally, Hermione found Luna leaving the Room of Requirement, probably to find some food. Grabbing Luna’s arm and walking across the hall three times, Hermione thought to herself _"_ _A private place to talk, a private place to talk, a private place to talk."_ The door appeared, and Hermione practically yanked Luna inside, where they came upon a cozy sitting room, similar to the two common rooms that Hermione had already seen. Letting go of Luna, they finally looked each other in the face, and before Luna could even say anything, Hermione kissed her. It was a short, simple kiss, but it meant everything to them both. They both smiled shyly at each other, the air between them fresh and sweet compared to what it had been mere hours ago. Taking each other’s hands, they sat on a love-seat, and began to really talk. They laughed and smiled and kissed and got to know each other properly for hours, with the large crowd of people wondering where Hermione had gone to completely forgotten.


End file.
